Olympic Pen or San Juan Is?
 

My husband, daughter and I will be coming to Washington in late June. We have 8 full days to spend. We plan to spend 2 full days in Seattle then rent a car and drive. Trouble is, where. San Juans or Olympic Pen. We don't want to spend all our time getting to widely distant locations. Any advice on whether to concentrate on Islands or Olympic Pen. at this time of year?

Personally, I would concentrate on the San Juan Islands. However, don't know about lodging at this late date??? <BR>Go to Anacortes(north of Seattle) take Ferry to Orcas Island or Friday Harbor.Then continue on to Vancouver Island to Victoria area.Can get back to US via Black Ball Ferry to Port Angeles.Could get back to Seattle in less that a day. (Port Angeles is the gateway to the Olympic National Park) <BR>I really think trying to find lodging will make your decision... <BR>Good Luck

Hi, Judy, <BR>The choices amount to some personal taste issues. The San Juans are lovely and pastoral, but not especially wild. Great for walkers and cyclists, good weather, some cute villages and lots of great views of water and distant mountains. Yacht people in evidence. Orcas is the biggest, San Juan has the only town of consequence, Lopez and the others are sleepier and very rural. <BR> <BR>The Peninsula is another story altogether. Dramatic surf and rock scenery, amazing rain forests, lots of critters, mountains and bays, lakes and hot springs, Indian reservations, historic towns, on and on. A tour of the peninsula will be more driving, more variety, probably wet in some places, maybe more adventure. The Olympic rain forest (Hoh Valley for instance) is unique, nothing like it anywhere else. <BR> <BR>How old is your daughter? If youngish, I'd be afraid several days in the San Juans would get a little boring. <BR> <BR>It IS possible to do both, with Victoria thrown in. Ferry from Anacortes to San Juan I., tour for a day, spend the night. Then next day to Victoria, tour, etc., then next day to Port Angeles, then around the Peninsula for 2 or 3 days, back to Seattle. If you go this route, (and if you're traveling this June, not 2001) it's now time to book hotels and international ferry space.

Jane and John, thank you both. John, we would love to do both but we are afraid of ferry backup. I keep reading horror stories of 5, 6, 8-hour backups. We will be renting the car early on Tues and must return by Sunday Evening. If we try to take a ferry in the middle of the week what(just as a guess) will the waits be like?

Hi again, Judy, <BR>I don't think you'll have much trouble midweek. You can reserve the Wa. State Ferry from Friday Harbor (San Juan I.) to Victoria through the ferry system's website (www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/); and you can see the Anacortes departure times there, too. Only one boat a day goes all the way to Sidney BC (about 10 road miles from Victoria proper) but there are numerous other departures from Anacortes to the islands. There can be some delays at Anacortes for weekend sailings, but unless a boat is out of service for maintenance I think it's rare for long delays at Anacortes midweek. <BR> <BR>The State's website also has a link to Black Ball Lines, the operator on the Victoria - Port Angeles route. For the Coho (the Black Ball boat) one parks the car in the lineup for that ferry, which departs from the Inner Harbour right in front of the BC Parliament buildings and the Empress Hotel, so most folks park the car and wander around the city center, returning in time for US Customs inspection before the sailing. Black Ball will advise on how early to get there but we've never missed a boat. <BR> <BR>An alternative route to Victoria is through Tsawwassen BC and across on BC Ferries (www.bcferries.bc.ca/), a gorgeous trip which passes through the BC Gulf islands (called erroneously by some gringos the "Canadian San Juans"). Tsawwassen is a few km past the border (some delays at customs possible) on the US I-5/BC Rte. 99 freeway. <BR> <BR>Either way I think your schedule is adequate and I would go for both. You're never farther than 4 or 5 road hours from Seattle so even if you have to cut short it's not all that disruptive. <BR> <BR>

I agree with John's suggestion that you can do both. Three days/nights in each of the San Juans and the Olympic Peninsula would be great. The long ferry waits you've been hearing about are generally on the ferry going FROM Port Angeles to Victoria; they are usually not quite as bad going the other way, and you can do things in Victoria while you wait. We put our car in line on a late July Saturday a couple summers ago at about 7 AM and made the 10:30 no problem. But definitely call Black Ball the day before and get their suggestion as to what time to have your car in line. <BR> <BR>If you do want to include a night in Victoria, then definitely do the San Juans first. I prefer to stay on Orcas, but the other islands are great too. Just don't go TO the islands on a Friday (Saturday mornings can be bad too), or come back to the mainland on a Sunday. At other times, arriving 90 minutes-2 hours in advance of the ferry you want should be plenty of time. <BR> <BR>If you do go on to Victoria, the ferry from the islands leaves in the mid-afternoon (3 PM from Orcas) and arrives in Sidney about 2 hours later; you need to make a reservation on this ferry (it's the only one in your itinerary that takes reservations). You'd want to go to the Butchart Gardens that evening on your way to Victoria, then do the museum in the morning (those are the two highlights of Victoria, IMO). <BR> <BR>If you don't care to include Victoria, then the easiest route between the San Juans and the Peninsula is to ferry back to Anacortes, then drive down Whidbey Island and take the ferry from Keystone to Port Townsend. These ferries leave every 45 minutes or so, so unless you're traveling during a peak weekend time you shouldn't have to wait long. You could do this in reverse if going to the Peninsula first means avoiding weekend travel to the San Juans (but you don't want to try to include Victoria traveling in this direction). <BR> <BR>On the Peninsula, I'd recommend staying somewhere around Port Angeles (although not necessarily IN PA), so that you're well poised to visit the highlights: Hurricane Ridge, Lake Crescent, Sol Duc, the Hoh, and the west coast beaches. If you really want to emphasize the coast, then stay further out, say around the Forks area.

Great advise from above posters. We took the ferry from Port Angeles last year. We stayed at a motel within walking distance of the ferry. My husband go up of 5:00am and drove the car to the ferry, then returned to bed. We were fifth in line for the first ferry out.

This is great! Thank you everyone. I have printed off this advice and will now begin making concrete plans to do both! I am so glad I posted here! I realize that the hard part now will be getting any place in the islands at this late date. Again thank you!